I have checked the US Census without success. I did locate the 1880 Census records for Mary Carr Kerrigan's brother, James Carr who lived in Palo Alto, Schuykill Co. PA. I am going to go to Palo Alto and research his family and see if I can trace him back to Ireland and at least find out where Mary was born if I am successful. One of the James Carr's sons, Francis, became a catholic priest and I know a little more about them.Father Francis Carr is a first cousin of my great grandmother Ella A. Kerrigan. I live in Swarthmore, PA so am bout 1 1/2 hours away from Palo Alto.I also have not done very much research in catholic church records and do not know very much about how hard or easy it is finding records. I went to St CharlesSeminary and found records about Father Carr and know he said his first mass at St Stephen's Church, Port Carbon, PA. Also he is buried at St Stephen's Cemetery.So I will start research there.Susan

Susan that sounds like an idea. I don't understand why there is no records of Mary Carr. It could be that they moved on to another state. They were close to New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland from Philly. In regards to cemetery's it could be easy or they might want to charge from some information.

A guy wrote a book about what information could be found on tombstones at Holy Cross Cemetery in Brooklyn. They would list what village they came from. However, children were identified as the son of or daghter of a family. They might be helpful and point you to other sources of information.

If you need more help give me a call 708-466-4624. Also don't hesitate to reach out to a local Family History Center of the Mormans. They have places all over the country. I can access their stuff at my local library.

PatrickThank you for your help and comments. I will post an update after I take this trip upstate. This has been a difficult search, I keep thinking that something is wrong with this story but my mom who is still alive and soon to be 88 tells me this is how it was always told to her.Susan

Susan, I came across the James Carr in Palo Alto. I assume the one that was married to Margaret. Francis was about 19 in 1900. I also checked John A. Young and found one in Philly that was married to a Ellen A. Young. I assume this is the one you mentioned. Ellen A Young matches the month and year of birth (July 1866) that she is the correct one. I checked her under Kerrigan, but could not find anything else. If I remember right some or a good amount of the 1870 census records were destroyed. It appears that they were married in either 1885 or 1886.

It's frustrating that nothing shows up on the Mary Kerrigan (Carr). Also the National Archives have two offices in Philly. One of them is in Northeast Philly. They are located at 14700 Townsend Rd., they can be reached at 215-305-2000. Also there is email address for the main office (philadelphia.archives@nara.gov).

I also came across a hit on Ancestry for something called the Pennsylvania Miracode Index. It appears to be a state census record of sorts.

Also a few states according to Internet Genealogy magazine provide a way to search their records on-line. One of the states mentioned was West Virginia. They mentioned that it might be helpful for residents of Pennsylvania and Maryland, whose family members might have gone there to work or whatever. The site is (www.wvculture.org/wva_dcsearch.aspx).

I came across a James Carr & Margaret Farrell of Femoy, County Cork - 1866. I was wondering if this is the brother that was living in Palo Alto. I was looking at an road atlas of Pennsylvania. I noticed that there was a town near Palo Alto with the same name as the ship that Mary Carr-Kerrigan arrived on. It peaked my interest a bit.

I also tried checking on John Andrew Young family and found a James Owen Young, who registered for the WW I draft. He was born on August 21, 1886 and was a electrician. It appears to be a match.

I also saw where you live and found it was not to far from where my former partner lives close to Philly. She works at the VA hospital. I have driven there from N.E. Pennsylvania and also Staten Island. I am starting to know my way around there somewhat. I was driving back home from Philly and was going to take I-476 to I-76. However, there was a major traffic jam, so ended up taking 76 thru the city during the morning rush hour. Not a good idea.

Also there is a Kerrigan section on Gen Forum. There are a ton of postings of people trying to track down their Kerrigan's. They have Kerrigan's that came from Counties, Mayo, Cavan, Donegal, Tyrone, Meath. Supposedly Kerrigan's orginally came from Mayo and spread from there to Donegal and so forth. I would assume that they would have a Carr family section where you could research or even post something.

Yes that is the right Carr family in Palo Alto, PA. The mother's maiden name is Margaret Kelly. I found Father Carr in Norristown, PA in 1910 US Census Miracodeand his mother, sister, and brother are living in the home. In 1920 his sister and brother are living with him. And in 1930 only the sister is living with him.Yes Ella And John Young were married 12 June 1885 in Phila. PA. I went into the Register of Marriages at City Hall Annex and this gives more info then a marriagecertificate. However, it did not supply me with anything helpful. It states John A. Young's place of birth as Phila. and Ella A. Kerrigan's place of birth as PA. It also contained no info on their parents. That was disappointing ( I have found better info on others I have check ).James O Young is my grandmother's older brother and I do not have his draft registration card. I have the copy of the Young Family Bible which again does not give additional info on Ella. John and Ella Young had five children all born in Phila.( except Clara who was born in Balt. MD ): James O. b.21 Aug 1886, Sarah E. (my grandmother ) b. 22 May 1886, Clara V. b.5 Aug 1897, Loretta J. b.6 March 1899 and John A. Jr b. 11 Jan 1901. I will look into the sources you provided.Yes you were very close to where we live which is where I 95 exits onto I 476 ( we are 1 mile away ) Very good for traveling. It does get terrible during rush hour.Thank you again, Susan

I was wondering if you could find out if they were married in a church. If yes they might have some better records. The churches were the original records keepers before the government collected the data. The problem is trying to figure out where Ella and her parents were hanging out, before she got married. It would seem that they were in the Philly area, because John was born there. Also her mother Mary Carr returns there to be a midwife.

I would have assumed that she would have moved close to the daughter. I know that one of my father's uncle's had his father in-law living with him. I find it interesting that one their kids was born in Baltimore. This maybe something to explore.

The other idea would be to see if there are any records of local neighborhood newspapers. Since my Kerrigan's were in Brooklyn, I go to a Brooklyn Genealogy site every so often. They have some articles from some of the Brooklyn newspapers. I have come across some interesting stuff reading through the articles. Especially the crime stuff being a former police officer.

I don't know that much about immigrants in Philadelphia. However, in Chicago the Irish lived in certain areas. Also they blamed the Irish Mrs. O'Leary's cow for starting the Great Chicago Fire (1871). The Chicago Fire Department Academy is built on the spot where the fire started.

We had at one time Northside Irish, Southside Irish, and Westside Irish. It could have been the same in many cities that immigrants lived or moved to areas where they felt comfortable.

Susan, I came across a reference to a Mary Kerrigan who was listed in a 1890 Philadelphia Directory. She was identified as a widow and lived at 4934 Little Wayne. If that's the one we are looking for she might be about 44 years old. It's a long shot. I don't know where I came across this, but was checking the web for some Philadelphia Genealogy resources and found a bunch of stuff. One site was actually looking for volunteers to help them.

Susan, a friend gave me a paperback book titled "Basic Guide to Irish Records for Family History" by Brian Mitchell. He lists alot of information on the various records that existed and destroyed. He also provides mail address, websites and phone numbers, for the various Irish Genealogy Centers by County in Ireland.

He also lists the following websites:

Irish Ancestors - www.ireland.com/ancestorFamily Search (Mormons) - www.familysearch.org.Genealogy Publishing (Baltimore,Md.) www.genealogical.comThey publish genealogy books and cds. However they allow "name search" on their site for free. Also family historians can search indexes to a number of Irish sources such as Griffith's Valaution, Tithe Books - for Northern Ireland, Flax Growers Lists of 1796, pre-1856 wills and 1841/1851 Census Abstracts.

Irish Genealogy Limited - www.irishgenealogy.ieA number of databases are hosted on this site, including a free searchable index to the church registers (about 3 million records) computerised by genealogy centers for the following counties: Armagh, Cavan, Derry, Fermanagh, Leitrim, Mimerick, Mayo, SLigo, Tyrone and Wexford. Some of the other counties require permission of the Bishop to check some church records. Sounds like the are looking for a donation.

Irish Family History Foundation - www.irish-roots.netprovides contact information for Ireland's network of county based genealogy centers. Also offers pay-per-view searches of databases created by these centers.

Some helpful material, when we find out where your Kerrigan's and Carr's are from.